Merpati serves Jayapura<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines, a subsidiary of
\nthe national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, has opened new direct
\nflights from Jakarta to Jayapura in Irian Jaya and resumed daily
\nflights between Jakarta and Malang in East Java.<\/p>\n
Merpati's spokesman Benny Achmad said the airline will fly the
\nJakarta-Jayapura route five times a week with en route stopovers
\nin Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, and Biak in Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
Merpati will also offer new twice weekly flights from Jakarta
\nto Jayapura through Ujungpandang and Timika and vice versa, he
\nsaid, adding that Merpati uses DC-9 aircraft for all the flights
\nto Jayapura.<\/p>\n
Merpati currently operates 14 flights a week on the
\nUjungpandang-Jayapura route.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Merpati's president, Ridwan Fatarudin told the
\nAntara news agency over the weekend that on Friday his airline
\nalso began flying to Malang daily, thus re-opening the service
\nwhich was suspended in 1987.<\/p>\n
"The Jakarta-Malang flights will use Fokker-28\/4000 aircraft,
\nwhich has 75 seats," he said.(fhp)<\/p>\n
Asian economies discussed<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Representatives from 63 centers for economic
\nstudies, located in 23 Asian countries, will take part in a four-
\nday seminar beginning here on Wednesday to discuss Asian economic
\ngrowth, policies and problems.<\/p>\n
Inter-Asian cooperation will also be one of the subjects to be
\ndiscussed at the seminar, to be held at Sahid Jaya Hotel here
\nfrom April 6 to April 9.<\/p>\n
The seminar, jointly organized by the International Center for
\nEconomic Growth (ICEG) of the United States and Indonesia's
\nCenter for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).<\/p>\n
Speakers at the seminar, which will be officially opened by
\nTrade Minister Satrio Budiardjo Joedono, will include Mohammad
\nSadli, a senior Indonesian economist, Malcolm Purvis, the
\ndirector of the Economic Policy Support Office of the United
\nStates Agency for International Development (USAID), and a number
\nof other economists of other noted international
\ninstitutions.(hen)<\/p>\n
KL acquires timber firm<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Lien Hoe, a Malaysian property group, has
\nsigned a pact to buy a 70 percent stake in North Sumatra Timber,
\na local company that has ventured aggressively into the
\nIndonesian timber market.<\/p>\n
Lien Hoe is to pay 30 million ringgit (US$12 million) in cash
\nand invest a 30 million ringgit in North Sumatra Timber for
\nworking capital, Lien Hoe managing director Chan Wah Long said,
\nafter signing the purchase pact with Mega Heights, owner of North
\nSumatra on Friday.<\/p>\n
"We expect North Sumatra to churn a turnover of between 150
\nmillion ringgit and 200 million ringgit (between $60 million and
\n$80 million) a year, which will be a great boost for the (Lien
\nHoe's) group's profitability," Chan said.<\/p>\n
North Sumatra Timber officials said the timber firm planned to
\nventure further into timber processing following Indonesia's ban
\non the export of raw logs.<\/p>\n
North Sumatra Timber had recently acquired a 70 percent stake
\nin PT Budi Trisakti, which operates a moulding factory in Banda
\nAceh in Sumatra that produces some 10,000 cubic metres of
\nfinished products a month.<\/p>\n
PT Budi reportedly has long-term timber supply contracts with
\nconcession holders involving a total area of 180,000 hectares
\n(450,000 acres).<\/p>\n
U.S. jobless rate steady<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (Reuter): A whopping 456,000 U.S. jobs were created
\nin March while the unemployment rate was steady, the Labor
\nDepartment said in a report that provided good news for the
\njobless but shocked inflation-wary financial markets.<\/p>\n
The department said the growth in new jobs outside the farm
\nsector last month was the most in 6-1\/2 years and in part
\nreflected a rebound from losses caused by frigid weather in
\nJanuary and February.<\/p>\n
Construction, retail and services -- such as hospitals,
\ntemporary agencies and hotels -- were among the many areas
\nposting gains, the department's survey of businesses showed.<\/p>\n
The report provided fresh evidence Friday that the economy is
\nmoving ahead with vigor in the first quarter of 1994. It grew at
\na seven percent annual rate in the last three months of 1993, but
\nthat rate is not expected to be sustained in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
The unexpectedly sharp jobs rise followed a revised increase
\nof 198,000 in February. It fueled speculation the Federal Reserve
\nmay boost interest rates again to curb inflation pressures.<\/p>\n
A separate Labor Department survey of households showed the
\nunemployment rate was unchanged in March at 6.5 percent, although
\neconomists expect it will fall in coming months as companies hire
\nworkers to meet demand for goods and services.<\/p>\n
JAL begins Bali service<\/p>\n
TOKYO (AFP): Japan Airlines has launched a new regular
\npassenger service between Tokyo's Narita International Airport
\nand Bali, Indonesia, company officials said.<\/p>\n
Japan's leading airline said the Bali leg would be added to
\nits existing five flights a week -- Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday,
\nFriday and Saturday -- to Jakarta and the airline hoped to make
\nthis a daily flight in September.<\/p>\n
India's private bank opens<\/p>\n
NEW DELHI (AFP): India's first private bank opened on Saturday
\nwith Finance Minister Manmohan Singh saying he hoped the
\ncompetition would help make state banks more efficient.<\/p>\n
Singh, after throwing open the doors of the first branch of
\nUTI Bank Ltd. in the western industrial city of Ahmedabad, said
\nprivate banks were necessary to inject "greater efficiency and
\nproductivity in the banking system."<\/p>\n
UTI Bank Ltd. is a venture of the Unit Trust of India, the
\ncountry's largest mutual fund. It has promised modern,
\ncomputerized, friendly and efficient service to Indians used
\nmainly to slow-moving state banks.<\/p>\n
UTI Bank will have an initial capital of one billion rupees
\n(US$33 million), expected to triple within a year, when the bank
\nwill be listed on the stock exchange.<\/p>\n
UTI Bank general manager Basudeb Sen said the bank will have
\nnear-complete flexibility in utilizing information technology and
\nintroduction of new products and services.<\/p>\n
UTI Bank intends to open branches within the year in
\nBangalore, Bombay, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Madras and New Delhi.<\/p>\n
EU earns much from oil tax<\/p>\n
ABU DHABI (AFP): Energy taxes earn the European Union three
\ntimes more than OPEC's income from oil exports and the gap could
\nwiden if the EU goes ahead with plans to impose new taxes, an
\nofficial Arab report said.<\/p>\n
Japan is also earning nearly twice OPEC's revenues but the
\nincrease in the oil taxes over the past five years has been
\nslower than that in the EU, according to a study published by the
\nOrganization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC).<\/p>\n
The Cairo-based group said oil taxes in the EU had surged from
\nUS$39.33 a barrel in 1988 to $49.43 in 1990 and $57.75 in 1992.<\/p>\n
This boosted the price of an oil barrel to the end user in the
\nEU from $71.01 to $92.23 and $96.80 in the same period, it said.<\/p>\n
"The increase in the EU taxes on oil imports was far higher
\nthan the increase in OPEC's oil prices," the report said.<\/p>\n
The price of OPEC's basket of seven crudes rose from $14.24 in
\n1988 to $18.42 in 1992 but it remained nearly one third of the EU
\nenergy tax and one fifth of the barrel's price to the end users.<\/p>\n
Japan-Vietnam air deal<\/p>\n
TOKYO (AFP): Japan and Vietnam have agreed to resume regular
\nflights between the two countries suspended since 1975, officials
\nsaid Saturday.<\/p>\n
The agreement was reached at a meeting held here late Friday
\nby officials from the two countries, they said.<\/p>\n
The agreement calls for regular flights between southern
\nVietnam's Ho Chi Minh City -- formerly Saigon -- and the Kansai
\ninternational airport which is to open in September in western
\nJapan, the officials said.<\/p>\n
Flight schedules and other details will be decided later, they
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Regular flight service between Japan and Vietnam was suspended
\nafter the fall of Saigon in the closing days of the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n
Malaysia's 2nd carrier<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): A top Malaysian official said the
\ngovernment has licensed a four-member local consortium to run the
\ncountry's second national carrier, to fly charter services
\ninitially to "exotic" tourist destinations in Asia.<\/p>\n
The new company, approved by the cabinet Wednesday, has yet to
\ndecide on its official name, but was likely to call itself Air
\nAsia Sdn Bhd, Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik said.<\/p>\n
"With this (license), the company is now allowed to operate,"
\nLing said, adding that officials of the consortium were
\nfinalizing route schedules with the economic planning unit of the
\nprime minister's department.<\/p>\n
State-owned heavy industries firm Hicom Bhd is the controlling
\nshareholder in the airline consortium, with a 45-percent stake,
\nwhile private carrier Pelangi Air and the eastern Sarawak state
\ngovernment jointly hold a 40-percent stake.<\/p>",
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